Almost every day I've woken up for the past three years, I've thrown Trader Joe's dark blend coffee into a French press, poured boiling water into it, and cursed the morning.

I tell you this so that you know where I'm coming from with respect to coffee. I care about it more than a little, but less than a lot.

In the interest of expanding my horizons of caffeination, I jumped at the opportunity to take the new Starbucks Verismo 580 coffeemaker for a test drive.

What is it?

You know how your office has that Keurig machine that you put a little pod into and it dispenses disappointing "coffee" at the push of a button? This is Starbucks' take on the same idea, but it pulled out all the stops to make sure that this is coffee you'd actually want to drink.

In addition to conventional coffee, the Verismo 580 is set up to make fancier drinks like a cafe latte or an Americano. And because all all these drinks are made by way of pods, there's no guesswork involved or any opportunity for you to ruin it.

How good is it?

Pretty good. Starbucks maintains that Verismo-made drinks are as good as what you'd get in any of its retail locations, and to my semi-experienced taste buds, this seems about right.

Should you buy it?

This is not a coffeemaker for the type who carefully heats water to a precise temperature before pouring water over beans that he ground himself. It's for someone who wants perfectly fine-tasting coffee without having to think about it. And if you're like me, you like to think about very little in the morning.

There's a bit of an investment to get on board with the Verismo 580, however. Not only does the machine retail for $199, but the pods that work with it (you can't use your Keurig K-cups) come in packs of 12 and sell for $12.95. These prices register in my gray area, so it's entirely up to you if the money's worth it or not.

In conclusion

The Verismo 580 makes good coffee. My only complaint (and even then, it's a minor one) is that I wished the device and the coffee pods were a little more affordable.

Other than that, I've greatly enjoyed classing up my morning routine, drinking fancy espresso shots while standing in the kitchen in my underwear.